


Possibility

by The_Wavesinger



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Gen, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2020-03-20 19:42:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18999235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Wavesinger/pseuds/The_Wavesinger
Summary: Four choices Steve might have made, in slightly different universes.





	Possibility

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much to cyren2132 for beta-ing. All remaining mistakes are, of course, mine.

Nebula tells him, privately, her suspicions about Vormir. He immediately knows what he’s going to do.

When Natasha chooses Vormir, he volunteers to join her.

 

—

 

“ _Bucky is alive._ ”

That’s enough to win the fight. Enough to get what he needs. And yet—

Timelines and stupid movies aside, he doesn’t remember any of this. And Rumlow and Sitwell didn’t remember what he said, in 2014.

So.

He leaves the compass, and three words: _don’t trust SHIELD_.

 

—

                                                     

Tony’s done it. Tony’s done it, and Thanos isn’t going to succeed. Thanos isn’t going to snap his fingers and destroy everything.

Steve drops his shield but—Thanos is moving, and without thought he moves too, hurling the hammer at Thanos and flinging himself after it.

Thanos swats Steve away, and Steve feels something in himself snap, the world going fuzzy as he lands on the hard ground.

It’s barely enough to stop Thanos in his stride. It doesn’t even make him pause for more than a blink of an eye.

But it’s just enough.

“I. Am. Iron Man.”

Snap.

 

—

 

They wait.

And wait.

And wait.

Steve doesn’t appear on the platform.

 _No,_ Sam thinks, _no no no no no_.

It can’t be. It can’t be. Except—

There’s a sudden glint of something near the lake, and he thinks, for a moment, that it’s—no. But he’s still walking, almost running. He thinks Bucky and Banner are following him, but he’s not sure. His head is filled with _Steve_. Steve, and whatever (whoever, he hopes) is on the bench.

But there’s no whoever. No Steve

What _is_ on the bench is the shield.

Brand-new looking, that damned red white and blue, shining in the sunlight. Steve’s shield.

But no Steve.

Steve isn’t there, so either the time travel worked and Steve (future Steve?) somehow left the shield behind, or—

There’s no _or_. Of course Steve left the shield behind. Of course it was him. There’s no other option.

There’s a note taped to the shield, and it’s in Steve’s handwriting. (Sam would recognize that signature anywhere.)

It reads:

_Sam—_

_It’s your turn. Don’t look back._

_—S.R._

Sam reaches for the shield, almost unconsciously. It’s surprisingly heavy, and it feels _wrong_ in his hands.

But still. It’s in his hands, now.

**Author's Note:**

> I did a reverse Thanos with the wordcount. Or at least I did when I was checking the wordcount on Word.


End file.
